Tagged: police

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) A potential police officer shortage might be looming and it could affect your safety if the statewide trend continues. CBS North Carolina just got records from the North Carolina Department Of Justice showing 17 police academies eight in 2015 and nine already this year had to be canceled all over the state because of low enrollment. It would be a concern.

It would be a concern, said Sue Fisher of Chatham County. Dr. Robert Brown is chair of Criminal Justice at NCCU.

He said several factors are making policing a less attractive career. I think that we ve had the perfect storm, Brown said. Concerns about unethical behavior of police officers, racial bias, bias against the poor, excessive use of force.

Natalie Williams, a criminal justice student said, People of our color fear police and we want to change that. Recruiting Blacks and Hispanics to be cops is even more difficult something criminal justice students hope to change. I love the job.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) A fight at Broadway at the Beach left one man temporarily unconscious as security guards shuffled away some of the men apparently responsible, according to a Myrtle Beach Police report. The report said the fight broke out at 2:18 a.m. Monday in the area of Celebrity Square.

Police classified the incident as a robbery after the man knocked unconscious did not want to press charges but did say his wallet was missing after the fight. Officers who reviewed Broadway at the Beach surveillance video wrote in the report that a large crowd appeared to be engaging in a verbal confrontation. Three Broadway at the Beach security guards are seen in the video watching the confrontation unfold.

At one point the robbery victim and another man engage in a mutual fight. The report said two of the security officers then attempted to step in between the men. Then an apparent friend of one of the men hit the robbery victim in the head, knocking him to the ground.

The man who hit the victim in the head immediately ran away as the crowd moved toward the victim on the ground. The crowd then left the area, and the two men who hit the victim can be seen on surveillance video reuniting and engaging in celebratory actions according to the report. At that point, video shows two of the security guards escort the suspects and crowd away from the area and out of camera view.

The report goes on to say at no point does any of the security officers on scene attempt to detain any of the parties involved. The third security officer does not engage any parties involved at any point and does not appear to help the victim in any way. After the fight, the 25-year-old victim was bleeding from the back of the head when he, a witness and two other males flagged down police, according to the police report. The victim and the witness both told police the man who initially engaged with the victim asked the victim are you a fighter?

The victim said he denied being a fighter but then the man commented about the victim s cauliflowered ears. The victim said he eventually admitted to being a fighter, and the man then said, Oh, you think you re a tough guy? The victim and the witness told police the victim repeatedly said he did not want any trouble, but the man took a fighting stance and the victim took a similar stance.

Then the fight began. The victim said he did not remember the fight afterwards, but he noticed his wallet containing two credit cards and cash was missing. Police have not named any suspects in the case.

News13 has requested a comment from Broadway at the Beach but has not yet gotten a response.

TWO teenagers with serious mental health problems had to travel more than 270 miles because there were no hospital beds available for them. They were among 16 young patients forced to go out of the county for treatment between September 2015 and February this year. A Freedom of Information request gas revealed the longest distance travelled was a trip of 277 miles to Bury, Greater Manchester.

Other locations included Wheaton Aston in Staffordshire, Attleborough in East Anglia, Colchester in Essex, Roehampton, Godden Green in Kent, Roehampton and Enfield in London and Woking in Surrey. Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 1 said most of the teenagers had to be moved further afield because they needed particular mental health treatment the trust was not commissioned to provide. The trust also sent 13 adults outside the county over the same period with patients sent to locations in London, Kent, Southampton, and Woking.

The revelation has sparked calls from the mental health charity YoungMinds for better Government investment in beds and services. The charity said more must be done to ensure specialist mental health services are more widely available for children and teenagers closer to home. Director of campaigns Lucie Russell said: When a child reaches crisis point and their suffering is so acute they need inpatient care, they should not have to wait for a bed, nor travel hundreds of miles to get one.

Children in crisis and their families need comprehensive and immediate support during this extremely traumatic time. The charity said inpatient care should be a last resort but the lack of early intervention services that focus on prevention is causing a surge in demand for inpatient beds. Ms Russell said: This is both expensive and increases the suffering of children and their families.

Sussex Partnership service director for children and young people, Ruth Hillman, said: Sometimes the children and young people referred to our services for care need specialist inpatient treatment that we are not commissioned to provide so they have to receive this out of the area. Examples of this include psychiatric intensive care, severe learning disability conditions and those young people who require placements in forensic adolescent units. This is what happened in all but three of these 16 cases.

These 13 children and young people needed care outside of our area because all their conditions required specialist care. Our priority and focus is always on providing the right care in the right place for the children and young people we treat. Most of the time that is at home but sometimes a period in hospital is needed.

In the rare cases where we do not have bed space in any of our hospitals and have to look out of the area we always work very closely with the young person and their family and would look to move them back to the local area as soon as capacity is available and their condition allows.